Case Study: GE Healthcare In India: An (Ultra) Sound Strategy?

What are the basic facts?
GE Healthcare India, a joint venture between General Electric (GE) and the Indian multinational Wipro Ltd., had ended the 2005-2006 year with a significant rise in sales of 10% since last year. They were the market leader in the $77 million ultrasound machine market, beating its competitors, which included Siemens, Toshiba and Philips. The president and CEO of GE Healthcare India, V. Raja read the newspaper headlines which described how government officials in Hyderabad had been confiscating ultrasound machines that they suspected were being used illegally to determine the sex of unborn children. The article featured a poster for GE ultrasound
This cut travel costs tremendously for patients (travel, time spent away from work, higher costs at urban medical centers), and the people were less fearful of having diagnostic tests done in the comfort of their own village.

What are the alternatives?
There are various possible solutions to how GE Healthcare India can provide safe ultrasound machines without doing anything illegal and also meet its sale targets. Firstly, they should enforce rigorous internal controls. The first step in approaching human rights challenges requires an internal look to make sure that the company is not only obeying the rule of law, but also conducting itself in a way that is effective and culturally sensitive. GE Healthcare India has attempted to do this through its rigorous sales process review that goes beyond basic legal requirements to avoid risks where possible and educate its employees about the nationwide gender stigma. These efforts are consistent with GE’s company-wide integrity policies which not only require the employees to obey the applicable laws and regulations governing the company’s business conduct worldwide, but also to promptly report any red flags or potential issues that may lead to a regulatory compliance breach. Secondly, GE Healthcare India can form a partnership with the Indian government or another organization to form a program to promote gender equality. This will lead to funding from